Mendocino County Today: Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024

Clearing | Navarro Mouth | Catching Juan | Arson Suspected | Squirrel | Catching Amanda | Police Reassignments | Supervisors Race | Locals Night | BOS Procedure | 7Up Sign | Ed Notes | Museum Events | Covelo Memories | Hopland Farmers | Feral Heathens | Mendo Manson | First Sawmill | Yesterday's Catch | Class Dichotomy | Spiritually Called | Progress | Too Serious | Niner Island | Unwanted Rematch | State v Anarchy | Two-Time Loser | Girl Watcher | Trump Train | Colliers | Losing Proposition | Growing Old | Dark Days | Blaze Starr | Legendary Organizer | Ominous Salutation

FEW SHOWERS linger this morning, otherwise dry weather expected today. Warm front to bring light to moderate rain tonight. Additional periods of rain, heaviest in Del Norte County, Friday night into Saturday. Drier weather with mild temperatures expected Sunday and Monday. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): An overcast start with 49F this Thursday morning on the coast. Late afternoon drizzle yesterday brought .18" with it. Dry skies today then rain Friday & Saturday. Sunday & Monday are looking very warm & dry. Lots more rain starting Tuesday.

IT’S EARLY, BUT some local forecasts show that a series of continuous fairly heavy rain days will begin late next Tuesday and continue every day for the following week. 

JUAN SURRENDERS HIMSELF & A HONDA

On 01/19/2024, at approximately 9:45 am, Ukiah Police Department (UPD) responded to the report of a vehicle that had just been stolen from the parking lot of Taqueria Jalos at 1130 South State Street. The vehicle was a Red, 2006 Honda Civic. As the UPD officer was taking the report, we learned the California Highway Patrol (CHP) was involved in a vehicle pursuit with this stolen vehicle southbound on Highway 101 in the Hopland, CA area. The pursuit reached speeds in excess of 100 MPH and the suspect was driving erratically by crossing over double yellow lines into oncoming traffic. The pursuit was terminated by CHP for public safety reasons. 

At approximately 1:36 pm, UPD received an alert from the FLOCK license plate reading camera system. The alert was for the Red, stolen Honda Civic as it was traveling southbound in the area of North State Street at Garrett Drive. UPD Officers immediately responded to the area and located the stolen Honda Civic at the intersection of State Street and Perkins Street. 

UPD Officers positioned themselves behind the stolen vehicle and attempted a traffic stop. 

The suspect, later identified as 32-year-old Juan Sanchez Montiel, failed to stop for officers and continued southbound on South State Street at a slow rate of speed. Montiel continued southbound on South State Street until he arrived at Taqueria Jalos and pulled into the parking lot. He drove to the back of the parking lot and stopped his vehicle in front of a garbage dumpster. 

UPD Officers ordered Montiel out of the vehicle, but he refused to comply. Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office personnel arrived on scene to assist with a K-9. UPD Officers also used a Spanish speaking Deputy with the MCSO to communicate with Montiel, as well as a representative of mental health to try to de-escalate the situation for a peaceful resolution. After approximately 20 minutes of communicating with Montiel, he voluntarily exited the vehicle and surrendered to officers. 

Montiel was interviewed and later booked at the Mendocino County Jail for Taking a vehicle without owner’s consent, resisting, and failure to obey lawful order from peace officer.

The stolen vehicle was returned to the registered owner. 

UPD would like to thank the Mendocino County Sherriff’s Office and the Mendocino County Mental Health personnel for their assistance. As always, UPD’s mission is to make Ukiah as safe as possible. If you would like to know more about crime in your neighborhood, you can sign up for telephone, cellphone, and email notifications by clicking the Nixle button on our website; http://www.ukiahpolice.com

OFFICIALS: ARSON SUSPECTED IN 4 FIRES AT SAME MENDOCINO COUNTY LOCATION OVER 3 DAYS

Items collected by local fire officials at the scene had evidence of a fire accelerant.

by Madison Smalstig

Two modular homes, two recreational vehicles, a large boat and an outbuilding were destroyed or damaged in a string of fires over three days in Mendocino County, officials said.

Evidence found at the scene suggests the four fires were the result of arson, officials said. The blazes occurred between Saturday and Monday at the same property in the 40400 block of Old Stage Road, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Brandon Lee said.

The South Coast Fire Protection District responded to the first fire about 11 p.m. Saturday and found an outbuilding and a double-wide modular home, which are located in separate areas of the property, both fully involved in fire, Sheriff’s Office Lt. Quincy Cromer said.

There were no obvious signs of fire spread and it was raining before the fire was reported and as crews worked to contain the flames.

It did not appear someone was permanently living on the property, Cromer said.

Another fire was reported 8:35 p.m. the next day at the same location. Flames enveloped a large fiberglass fifth-wheel trailer.

About three hours later, flames spread from a modular home to another RV.

Crews then responded at 2:13 a.m. Monday to a report of an about 35-foot boat that was on fire.

A Ukiah Valley Fire Authority investigator found items at the scene that showed a fire accelerant had been used. Accelerants are items, like gasoline, used to speed up ignition and spread.

The Sheriff’s Office responded to each fire because firefighters had suspicions on the flames’ origins. Deputies did not locate anyone at or around the site during or after each of the fires, officials said.

Anyone with information regarding the fires may call the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office dispatch center at 707-463-4086 or the non-emergency tip line at 707-234-2100.

(pressdemocrat.com)

THAT’S NOT YOUR RAM, AMANDA

On 01/19/2024, at approximately 11:12 am, Ukiah Police Department (UPD) received an alert from the FLOCK license plate reading camera system. The alert was for a stolen vehicle traveling eastbound in the area of East Perkins Street at Highway 101. The vehicle was a Grey colored Ram truck, which was reported stolen from the Redwood Valley area earlier in the morning. 

UPD Officers responded to the area and searched the Redemeyer Road and Vichy Springs area. As UPD officers were traveling northbound on Redemeyer Road, they passed the stolen vehicle as it was traveling southbound in the area of El Dorado Road. UPD Officers quickly turned around and initiated a traffic stop at the intersection of Redemeyer Road and Vichy Springs Road. 

The driver, later identified as 35-Year-Old Amanda Duman complied with officer’s orders and was taken into custody without incident. Duman was interviewed and booked at the Mendocino County Jail for felony possession of a stolen vehicle. 

The stolen Ram truck was returned to the registered owner. 

SHERIFF’S OFFICE PROMOTES NEW CAPTAIN - APPOINTS PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER

by Justine Frederiksen

After serving as public information officer for the patrol/investigations division of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office for more than a decade, Captain Greg Van Patten was re-assigned this month to serve as Public Information Officer (PIO) for its Corrections division.

“[Van Patten] was assigned to corrections division commander due to the pending retirement of Captain Joyce Spears,” Sheriff Matt Kendall said when asked about the staffing change. “With the behavioral health wing of the jail build coming soon, I needed a captain with experience in command to take that role on.” 

Describing Van Patten as having “a decade of experience in the captain’s role,” Kendall noted that he was “best-suited to take on a very heavy load, (and) I wasn’t comfortable promoting a new captain and saddling that person with a new role and the jail build at the same time.” 

Capt. Van Patten said he has served as “primary PIO” since January of 2013, after serving for three years as assistant PIO. 

“It was a long road and a lot of work — 24/7/365 for the most part — but I was very fortunate and privileged to establish a lot of relationships with professional and hard-working reporters,” Van Patten said. 

At the end of last week, Kendall said he had “completed testing and selections for the Patrol Services Commander and will be promoting Lt. Quincy Cromer to the rank of captain (this week). Quincy will continue in the role of PIO for the patrol and investigative side of the office while Capt. Van Patten will take the role of PIO for the custody side.”

(Ukiah Daily Journal)

HANDICAPPING THE FIRST DISTRICT SUPERVISORS RACE

by Mark Scaramella

There are four candidates for Mendocino’s First District Supervisor seat being vacated by retiring Supervisor and former UC Ag Extention wine advisor Glenn McGourty: Madeline Cline, Adam Gaska, Carrie Shattuck, and Trevor Mockel.

Ms. Cline is the most well-funded and polished candidate. On the County’s candidate roster Ms. Cline lists her current job as “Businesswoman/Agriculture Advocate,” aka Wine Industry Advocate. She has testifed as a paid lobbyist against the proposed State Water Board vineyard discharge regulations. Based on her campaign financial statements most of her financial support comes from local wine interests including Chevalier Vineyard Management ($1750), Barra of Mendocino County ($1500), and Beckstoffer Vineyards ($12,500). So far. Ms. Cline has also received $5,000 from her mother, Regina ‘Gina’ Cline, widow of Potter Valley contractor Eric Cline, and $1,000 from the wife of Ukiah mini-industrialist Ross Liberty. Ms. Cline has received a total of around $30,000 from these and other smaller contributors. Ms. Cline is endorsed by, among others, former First District supervisors Carre Brown and Michael Delbar, both of whom are long-time fixtures in the inland Farm Bureau/wine industry; both of whom saw their jobs as supervisor primarily as the Board’s taxpayer funded wine industry representative. Ms. Cline has spent thousands of her campaign donation dollars on political consultants, media and photography. According to the County Election filings Ms. Cline lives across the street from the Barra of Mendocino County winery in Redwood Valley.

Even though outgoing Supervisor Glenn McGourty also sees himself as the wine industry’s rep on the Board and received their support when he ran to replace retiring Supervisor Carre Brown, he is oddly on record as having endorsed political neophyte Trevor Mockel, who has been unanimously (and miraculously) endorsed by Mendo’s five incumbent supervisors for literally no reason at all other than, perhaps, his short tenure as a state Democratic Senate aide/hack/local rep. Mockel has received a few financial contributions. The biggest one, for an impressive $5,000, is from Ms. Minal Shankar, the Ukiah-based venture capitalist who tried to buy and restore the delapidated old Palace hotel but got aced out of that opportunity when the current owner (who bought it out of receivership) refused to sell at the price Ms. Shankar was prepared to pay. Mr. Mockel also received $500 each from his father Jim Mockel and County Schools Superintendent Nicole Glentzer, also a well-connected inland Democrat. Mr. Mockel has recently been hired as “Public Information Officer” for Lake County and, on the County’s election roster Mockel lists his current job as “Public Information Officer,” an unchallenging position which he probably sees as another brief stepping stone in his nascent political career.

Candidates Shattuck and Gaska have not filed any campaign financial statements, which presumably means they have taken no political contributions and have spent very little on their campaigns. Neither Shattuck nor Gaska have touted any major endorsements that we are aware of. 

If we had to guess today, we’d say that none of the four candidates are likely to get over 50% of the primary vote (which is coming right up in March) and that Gaska and Cline are favorites to enter a run off in the November election. The Democratic Party/wine industry dominate the demographics of the First District. Ms. Cline has received significant financial and political backing from the wine mafia and the Farm Bureau — basically the same people in inland Mendocino County. Additional wine mafia donations are likely to be funnelled into Cline’s candidacy for the November General Election, so Cline will get a sizable chunk of District 1 votes. We like Carrie Shattuck for her independence, outspokeness and deep interest in Mendocino County operations and finances. Gaska also impresses based on his deep roots and extensive knowledge of the Redwood-Potter Valley area and his experience on the Redwood Valley Municipal Advisory Council and the Redwood Valley Water District which give him a solid base of support. The winner of the November run-off will probably depend on how the Shattuck and Mockel votes break down. Ms. Cline may be a political newcomer, but her financial support and wine/Farm Bureau backing will make her a strong possibility to replace McGourty.

Of course, much of this could change by the time the November election takes place.

CARRIE SHATTUCK:

County Notes:

Chair Mulheren stating that Supervisors could not respond to public comment was very alarming. The Board’s Rules of Procedure, Rule 19, Rules of Debate, she referred to has not changed since last year and states:

“When any member is about to speak in debate, they shall respectfully address themselves to the chair directly. The member upon whose motion a subject is brought before the Board, or who reports a measure from committee, is first entitled to the floor, even though another member has first addressed the chair; and they are also entitled to close the debate but not until every member choosing to speak has spoken…”

There is nothing about addressing the public in this rule. Although, Board Rule 16, Public Expression: states:

“Public expression on any item not appearing on the Board of Supervisors agenda, but which is within, or reasonably related to, the subject matter jurisdiction of the Board is permitted. The Board limits testimony on matters not on the agenda to 2-3 minutes per person and not more than 10 minutes for a particular subject at the discretion of the chair…”

There is nothing in the Board Rules of Procedure about Supervisors responding to public comment. Maybe Chair Mulheren needs to reread and refresh her memory about the Boards own Rules of Procedure?

ED NOTES: ODDS & ENDS

AS my colleague, The Major, points out elsewhere in today's must-read Mendo morning daily, this county really does have a mafia, a wine mafia, and they call the political tune, and their candidate for second district supervisor is Madeline Cline. Of course they already have the present five Supes, a given, and they've got Huffman, Wood and McGuire functioning for them at the higher levels of government.

DON'T LET the Wine Mafia's nicey-nice events fool you, these people are killers, killers, I tell you! And they enjoy the protection of a wine maven DA and the local courts, all California courts, in fact.

BULLSHIT, you say? Frost fan din sees the noise ordinance waived. Pesticide and herbicide applications? Rules waived. Labor laws? Waived. River protections? Waived. Democrat Party? Runs on wine, cheese and mass murder in Gaza. Massive tax-funded subsidies? You bet, the Wine Mafia gets them all.

IT'S A LOW BAR in Mendocino County, but Ms. Cline is the smartest candidate the Farm Bureau/Wine Mafia has yet put up, and our pinot princes and princesses are spending a lot of money for her to succeed, the hapless Glenn McGourty did his best for his pinot padrones but, ah, well Glenn wasn't quite as formidable as our Potter Valley cowgirl's going to be.

YEARS AGO I wrote a sad story about a kid interning at a famous SoCo winery — Williams Selyem — who died when he tried to retrieve a wrench at the bottom of an unmarked, nitrogen-filled wine tank. The winery's lawyer said the boy had smoked pot with his mother that day before he came to work, which was a straight-up lie but not surprisingly vicious given the scruples of the industry: "When A Winery Kills".

SO NOW the cutting edge state of Alabama is going to use nitrogen to execute a killer on an experimental basis after nitrogen has been found too cruel for animals. The stuff instantly freezes your lungs so you know you're dead for x-number of seconds, maybe even minutes, before you actually are dead, a form of torture, obviously. And this guy has already survived a previous attempt by Alabama to kill him with chemicals.

Untested Execution Method That's Too Cruel For Animals Will Be Used Thursday On An Alabama Hitman In World-First

HE PROBABLY has it coming, and right here permit me my annual complaint about capital punishment, which is that it not only defeats its own stated purpose — an example to the rest of the animals out there that they'll get the nitro if they kill. But given the number of annual murders in this country the death penalty clearly deters nobody. And second, there is fer shure no deterrent effect when executions are carried out in secret, often late at night before only the persons directly affected by the crime. 

A FEW murderers might actually be deterred if executions were held in public at, say, half-time of the Super Bowl, or at any ballpark large enough to hold the thousands of citizens who would undoubtedly pay mightily to witness the event first hand, all proceeds to the vics. And the innocent can and have been executed, and you don't necessarily have to be an anarchist to be opposed to the state killing anybody, because that state authority can sure as hell be applied to YOU. (The deluded shlubs who rioted in DC on January 6 are still being tracked down and packed off to prison, and how big a next step is summary execution of unpopular political dissidents?)

MUSEUM EVENTS

February Art Walk: Grace Hudson Museum will be open for First Friday on Feb. 2 from 5 to 8 p.m. February First Friday features the Museum's current exhibit, "Printed & Stitched," examining the overlap between hand-pulled printmaking and the art quilt. Suni Robin will provide soothing sounds on the harp from 5 to 7:30. There's also the core galleries featuring Grace Hudson’s artwork, exquisite Pomo basketry, and Hudson-Carpenter family history. Light refreshments will be served. The event is free for all.

---

On Saturday, February 3rd, the Grace Hudson Museum will host an introduction to printmaking workshop, "Exploring Mono Printing on a Gelli Plate." Artist Kate Gould demonstrate easy methods for this technique. Participants will create their own images in a medium that lends itself to spontaneity and color exploration. 

The workshop is appropriate for age 10 and up. Supplies are provided, and participants are welcome to bring additional materials. Call the Museum at (707) 467-2836 to make a reservation. 

The Grace Hudson Museum is at 431 S. Main St. in Ukiah. For more information please go to www.gracehudsonmuseum.org.

REMEMBERING COVELO

Editor,

What a terrific account of your trip to Covelo and the Eel River Canyon. Years ago my sister lived near Longvale on the road to Covelo and I saw the Eel River Canyon many times and the railroad tracks. It was quite beautiful out there and I even considered going in with some other folks to buy some property in Covelo (for a few minutes). Before long my sister and her family moved away from their “back to the land” spot to Willits where they could find jobs. I’m so glad to have gotten back to Anderson Valley but enjoyed reading about and remembering the Eel River Canyon and Covelo area.

Kathy Mac

Anderson Valley

SHERIFF KENDALL:

[AN ON-LINE IMAGE OF KIDS and mischief] reminded me of my younger brothers!

The twins chased me up a tree one afternoon after we had engaged in battle in a freshly disked field.

Stuck in a tree, in a freshly disked field which provided a nearly endless supply of rocks. I began to rethink my decisions. Following that afternoon, battle plans formed in my head began to include the current environment and accessibility of an escape route.

CHUCK DUNBAR:

Ah yes, those younger brothers caught big brother unprepared and trapped, with throwing ammo right at hand for them. One wonders what big brother had done to them to deserve such an attack? One also hopes your injuries weren’t too severe? 3 wild and energetic boys to raise, your parents had a big task there. Good story, Matt.

SHERIFF KENDALL:

I know how those glasses must’ve felt in that image. Have no doubt, I deserved the pelting. 14 years spent building a dictatorship attempting to rule the roost over my brothers had caught up with me. Revolution was inevitable. I learned a hard lesson in politics and war.

Following that moment I made several attempts at division, in hopes I could divide and conquer; however my brother’s bond was much to strong. My father was called home from the fire station that year and weighed in with a fire and brimstone sermon highlighting the price of quality medical care and the price of stitches and arm casts. He used the term “heathens” which by this time we simply thought was a synonym for “My sons.” He also advised he feared we had gone “feral,” a term I hadn’t heard previous to this. I remember looking up that word in the Webster’s dictionary following this sermon.

Eventually we united as siblings with a common bond and our battles ended.

I think this happened just about the time it should have. I also believe it prepared us all for things to come. We remain united to this day, through the loss of our parents, and many difficult times within our lives. We always knew when the enemy was at the gates, our family would stand together and get through things as we should. I wish everyone had this bond. Maybe I am at the age of appreciation and reflection.

LOOKING BACK…(excavated by Deb Silva)

FIRST MILL?

Where was the first sawmill on the Mendocino Coast?

Tom Wodetzki: Malcolm; In hopes of settling the question of which river was the site of the first sawmill on the Mendocino Coast, Albion or Mendocino, I bought your book, Mendocino History Exposed and read therein on page 13, “In 1852, men in the employ of Capt. Richardson, operated a water-powered lumber mill a bit upstream from the mouth of the Albion River.” And on page 7 you wrote, “a careful reading of the San Francisco newspaper the Daily Alta California shows the July 4, 1852, arrival in The City of the schooner Sovereign with a cargo of lumber from Mendocino County. The Sovereign, under Captain Baker, sailed from the port of Albion to San Francisco in thirty hours.” Unless someone has evidence that Mendocino’s mill started before this 1852 date, or disputes MacDonald’s information above, I believe we can safely state that Albion hosted the first sawmill on the Mendocino Coast. Please let us all know if this is inaccurate.

* * *

Malcolm Macdonald: That is correct. The same page in Mendocino History Exposed also notes that the brig Ontario didn’t arrive in Mendocino until July 19th of that year, with the equipment and men needed to set up a sawmill. The Daily Alta California of July 5, 1852 can be found on the California Digital Newspaper Collection (CDNC) website. This is a free to the public site. Put “Sovereign” in the basic search box then narrow your search to 1852 and the specific newspaper and the specifics should be under a heading like Shipping Intelligence. BTW Macdonald is written without any extra capitalization!

CATCH OF THE DAY, Wednesday, January 24, 2024

ANDRES AYALA-ORTIZ, Ukiah. Substance similar to toluene, controlled substance.

FALLON CHAMBERLAIN, Hydesville/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

DAVID DORMAN, Ukiah. DUI-alcohol&drugs, probation revocation.

MIGUEL GOMEZ-BRAVO, Rohnert Park/Ukiah. DUI.

CHRISTOPHER KEYES, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

SHANNON KIDD, Ukiah. Parole violation.

RICHARD LYNCH, Mendocino. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

CORT MILLER SR., Covelo. Parole violation.

KRISTO OUSEY, Ukiah. Controlled substance, paraphernalia, parole violation.

TONY PHIPPS, Ukiah. Failure to register felony sex offender with priors, unspecified offense.

CHERRI ROBERTS, County parole violation. (Frequent flyer.)

CHRISTINA TORRES, Hopland. Probation revocation.

JEFF GOLL: nice to hear that the crony capitalists at Davos have gone through a Scrooge-type revelation and would like to pay more taxes. "Tax us. This will not fundamentally alter our standard of living, nor deprive our children, nor harm (?) our nations' economic growth." A 2% tax is a drop in the bucket compared to the many billions of dollars that individuals and corporations get in subsidies, bail-outs, defense contracts, tax-loopholes etc. Then the Federal Reserve (a private bank) dumps trillions of dollars into the economy creating inflation that hits the bottom half of society the hardest (and the interest on that money) all the while inflating stock prices (a two cent tax on every financial transaction would be more efficacious). Those who created and maintain this system now pose as gentle humanists - when in fact are wolves in sheep clothing. On that note, more "Cutie" charm and chuckles and cheer type posters. The image of the Limeliters crossing the bridge reminded me of a photo I took in Chicago of a different stripe…

JIVE-O MUTHA AGAIN

Jivan Mukta Callout on Planet Earth

Sitting in front of computer #3 at the Ukiah, California Public Library, digesting the fact that fantasy-candidate Donald J. Trump just won a political victory in New Hampshire over an otherwise normal, credible challenger. But who cares? The Divine Absolute is doing everything, working through this body and this mind. What needs to happen will happen! So we must all confront the eco-apocalypse, the global civilization addicted to nuclear weapons, with billions worldwide living on the edge and being just one paycheck away from homelessness, starvation, and death. We are spiritually called to destroy the demonic. I am available & mobile. Ahoy, postmodern America, are you there?

Craig Louis Stehr

“WHAT IS PROGRESS? That we can drive faster on the roads? No, progress is the rest the body needs and the peace the soul requires. Progress is man’s well being.”

― Knut Hamsun

AMERICANS, too many of them, take themselves too seriously. You’re going to get rapped—by the viewers, by the sponsors and by the network brass—if you joke about doctors, lawyers, dentists, scientists, bus drivers, I don’t care who. You can’t make a joke about Catholics, Negroes, Jews, Italians, politicians, dogs or cats. In fact, politicians, dogs and cats are the most sacred institutions in America. I remember once somebody stole the car of Mickey Cohen, the racketeer, with Cohen’s dog inside, and I said on Steve Allen’s show that the police had recovered the dog while it was holding up a liquor store. Well, the next day this joker telephoned and said, “I don’t want you should joke about Mickey Cohen,” and I told him the joke was about his dog. “That compounds the felony,” this character said. “You just better watch your step.” 

— Johnny Carson

MAUREEN CALLAHAN: It's the rematch no one wants, but it's the one we're going to get. Last night's blowout win seals it: Donald Trump, who beat Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire primary by over 10 points, will be the Republican nominee. So here we go again: in one corner, a fossil who can barely keep his eyes open, or speak clearly and forcefully, or demonstrate he's capable of knowing where he is at any given moment. In the other is an agent of chaos whose own high-level former advisers continue to warn us against him. He is a convicted sexual assaulter, and a madman showing his age, 77 years old and now, too, slurring and misspeaking on the stump. America deserves better. But now it's inevitable.

“THE MEASURE of the state’s success is that the word anarchy frightens people, while the word state does not.” 

— Joseph Sobran

MIKE GENIELLA: Look, there are no surprises here. The Trump cult dominates the Republican Party, lapping up the rhetoric, lies, and fake news. Let's not forget an important FACT: Trump has never won a national election. He lost by 3 million votes to the hated Hillary and sneaked in the White House back door thanks to the archaic Electoral College. He lost to Joe Biden by 7 million votes, more than double the Clinton margin despite Trump's lies about stolen votes. He of course showed his respect for the democratic process by encouraging supporters to rampage through the Capitol in hopes of thwarting confirmation of election results.

TEFLON DON SHOWS HIS DURABILITY

by Michael Goodwin

Early Tuesday morning, Nikki Haley’s campaign tried to keep hope alive with a statement full of bravado and a pledge to keep going beyond New Hampshire.

The statement’s implicit acceptance of defeat turned out to be true, but it was hardly a close race and her decision to continue reflects more hope than reality.

Yet while Haley lives to fight Donald Trump another day, the road only gets harder from here. She had the endorsement of the Granite State’s popular governor, Republican Chris Sununu, and feasted on the votes of non-Republicans, advantages that will be almost impossible to repeat.

Still, she did well enough to forestall the media ritual of an autopsy of why and where it all went wrong. The insiders who can be counted on to spill gossipy details about how the once-promising effort lost its way will be put on hold.

But make no mistake: there is little reason to believe her train is bound for glory. Trump appears to be unstoppable as he aims to make history by winning the GOP nomination for the third time.

After his dismal second-place finish in Iowa, Gov. Ron DeSantis saw the light and announced he was dropping out and endorsing the former president. DeSantis’ flop was indeed a crash and burn given the high expectations attached to his campaign.

Haley will get some of that second-guessing after losing in New Hampshire because this was a state widely seen as her last, best chance to stop Trump.

And while she promises to soldier on, the results so far suggest that neither she, DeSantis, nor a half-dozen other Republicans who sought the nomination ever had a good chance of success.

Instead, it appears to me more likely that Trump would have won no matter who challenged him, how much money they raised or how well they ran their campaigns.

That conclusion reflects the former president’s victories in Iowa and New Hampshire as well as his prospects ahead. Incredibly, polls in the next 10 states on the GOP calendar all show him with a lead of at least 30 points, including Haley’s home state of South Carolina.

The upshot is that rather than searching for the whys of the other candidates’ defeats, we should instead come to grips with why Trump could prove to be unbeatable in the primaries and why he has a real chance of winning the White House a second time.

The short answer is that we are witnessing a durable political movement unlike any seen in modern America. The part of the electorate that hates Trump ­really, really hates him, yet it is matched in size and intensity by those who see him as the last, best hope.

Without that enormous well of support, he would have been crushed by the coordinated onslaught against him.

And yet that same onslaught, much of it the result of unfair media coverage and partisan actions that shattered political norms, also played a major role in his revival.

So did the mistakes of Trump’s Republican opponents, all of whom misjudged his hold on the party and its most faithful voters. One example: he has won a majority in each of the first two states.

Despite their experiences and motivations, Haley, DeSantis, Chris Christie and others decided to enter the nomination chase about a year ago based on false assumptions over how much of Trump’s support was solid and how much was soft, and could therefore be pulled away.

At the time, Trump’s support ranged from 30 to 40%. The belief among his opponents was that about 25% of the GOP was fully committed to the former president and that anything above that could be persuaded to switch to someone else.

The added thought was that, once Trump lost the nomination, even some of his hardcore supporters would back the party’s nominee.

They seemed reasonable assumptions, given the shambolic end to Trump’s term in the White House. Top aides, wary of his stolen-election claims and the crew of strange outsiders who suddenly became vital parts of his legal team, had started abandoning ship even before the Capitol riot on Jan. 6. Others quickly followed in protest after that awful day.

Democrats, of course, seized on the riot and Nancy Pelosi’s House quickly impeached the president for the second time, but again failed to gain a conviction that might have disqualified him from running again.

Push to prosecute

Still, like a dog with a bone, Pelosi’s crew never let go and kept pushing new Attorney General Merrick Garland to prosecute participants as a way of ­discrediting Trump and the GOP.

President Biden, we learned later, also let it be known to Garland that he wanted Trump prosecuted for his role in the riot.

That was clearly inappropriate, and exactly the kind of infraction Dems accuse Trump of committing. But when Biden did it, there was not a peep of protest from the party or the media.

Most congressional Republicans were silent, too, reflecting their own desire to be rid of Trump and his chaos.

Facing no resistance, the administration’s efforts mushroomed beyond and soon took on elements of a wholesale political vendetta. The solitary confinement and long prison sentences handed down to Jan. 6 rioters were often out of proportion, especially at a time when prosecutors in Washington, DC, and other big blue cities were going soft on violent street crimes, including rape, car-jacking and murder.

By August of 2022, when Garland approved the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago in a search for classified documents, many Americans subscribed to the view that Dems were weaponizing law enforcement for purely political purposes.

Coming after the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax that dominated Trump’s first years in office, the unprecedented raid and subsequent indictments ended any doubts there was a double standard of justice.

And for extra evidence, don’t forget The Post’s continuing revelations of the sordid saga of Hunter Biden and the family’s influence-peddling schemes, all of which languished in Garland’s crooked Department of Justice.

As if that weren’t enough to bring Trump’s political corpse back to life, Biden did the rest by proving day after day that he was not fit for the Oval Office.

Biden the worst ever

He was and is, quite simply, a terrible president, arguably the worst ever. From his bumbling, befuddled appearances to his enormous policy failures that are helping spark domestic and global tensions, he managed to boost the case for the man he had soundly defeated.

Because many of Biden’s key failures are in areas where Trump had succeeded, including the economy, controlling inflation and achieving border security and peace abroad, voters have a handy comparison that tilts in Trump’s favor.

One result is that while Trump’s train is gaining momentum, polls show that a majority of voters in Biden’s own party don’t want him to seek a second term. His choice of Kamala Harris for vice president has further weakened him because of the likelihood he would not make it through an additional four more years, and nobody wants her to be president.

So here we are, a full 10 months before Election Day and Nikki Haley is all that stands between a 2020 rematch. If she falters and if Trump keeps his focus and his cool, he can put Biden’s record on trial and make the incumbent play defense.

All else being equal, that’s a huge advantage.

DO NEW HAMPSHIRE RESULTS LEAVE PROGRESSIVES UP AGAINST THE WALL?

The Democratic Party is on track to nominate a notably weak candidate at a time when epitomizing the status quo is apt to be a losing proposition.

by Norman Solomon

The New Hampshire primary has confirmed that the United States is on the way to a disastrous fall election. Unless a health crisis forces withdrawal from the presidential race, either Donald Trump or Joe Biden is headed for a second term. The electoral outlook is now dystopian.

President Biden’s role as party boss worked out well for him in New Hampshire. No doubt mindful that he finished fifth in the state’s 2020 primary with a dismal 8 percent of the vote, Biden directed the Democratic National Committee to decertify New Hampshire’s historic first-in-the-nation primary, and he kept his name off the 2024 ballot. Yet pro-Biden forces ran a write-in campaign that got him nearly two-thirds of the vote on Tuesday.

The story might have been quite different if a credible progressive candidate for president had stepped forward to give Biden a run for his money. But the closest competitor, Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips—whose overall record is to the right of Biden—finished with 20 percent of the New Hampshire primary vote. Progressive candidate Marianne Williamson, who has never held elective office or led a social-justice movement, received just 5 percent.

Faced with such meager opposition, Biden romped to victory in New Hampshire. Now, with most polls showing him appreciably behind Trump, including in swing states, the Democratic Party is on track to nominate a notably weak candidate at a time when epitomizing the status quo is apt to be a losing proposition. Polling shows that fully three-quarters of the public believe the country is moving in the wrong direction.

The factors that got us to this abysmal situation are numerous, but any meaningful list should include the conformity of so many elected officials and activist groups known as progressive. For many, the temptation to publicly make excuses for Biden and unduly praise him has been too powerful to resist. Meanwhile, actual concerns have tended to stay private—even after it became clear that Biden’s presidency was in grim grooves such as “all of the above” energy policies accompanied by climate doubletalk, anemic responses to systemic racism, a belligerent foreign policy with scant regard for human rights, and rampant militarism.

As the Biden presidency deteriorated, an imperative was to generate sustained pressure from the left to counter ominous trends. Yet, by the end of 2021, the leadership of the Congressional Progressive Caucus had begun what became a pattern of unwisely deferring to the man in the Oval Office.

A turning point came in late 2021 when CPC leaders jettisoned their crucial pledge that the pending infrastructure bill would get through Congress only in tandem with the Build Back Better package—which, as my RootsAction colleague Sam Rosenthal wrote, “contained far more progressive priorities than did the infrastructure bill.” The power struggle “failed catastrophically for progressives, as mounting pressure from the White House and moderate Democrats drove the CPC to relent and vote independently on the infrastructure bill. Build Back Better ultimately failed to secure enough support from Senate Democrats to pass.”

The tragic Build Back Better episode foreshadowed further cave-ins, including premature endorsements of Biden for renomination. CPC Chair Pramila Jayapal endorsed him 14 months ago, less than halfway through his term, declaring: “He was not my first or second choice for president, but I am a convert. I never thought I would say this, but I believe he should run for another term and finish this agenda we laid out.”

Many others followed suit, thus reducing the chances that a progressive Democrat would launch a credible primary challenge to Biden. Even Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—who’d been among the Squad members admirably voting against the move that sank Build Back Better (“This is bullshit,” she said at the time)—endorsed Biden for renomination last July.

The pressures on Democrats in Congress to do that kind of thing are enormous. Countervailing pressure from progressive grassroots activists and organizations is vital—and all too often lacking. As a result, elected officials who ostensibly represent the progressive base to the establishment are more likely to end up serving as representatives of the establishment to the progressive base.

Biden’s all-things-to-all-Democrats act has worn thin to utter transparency, and he has the polling numbers to prove it. The president is currently 16 percent underwater in the approval-disapproval ratio among voters overall. Among key mainstays of his 2020 election victory over Trump—people of color and especially the young—support for Biden has plunged, reaching new depths since October due to his active complicity in Israel’s ongoing mass murder of Palestinian civilians.

On the same day as his victory in New Hampshire, Biden again encountered protesters who disrupted his speech with cries for an end to the U.S.-backed carnage in Gaza. As soon as his speech began at a campaign event in the swing state of Virginia, he was interrupted with the shout “How many kids have been killed?”

At the rally, there was no letup to the outcries about Gaza, which included “Israel kills two mothers every hour” and “Stop funding genocide.” The Hill reported that “chants from the crowd” interrupted Biden’s speech “nearly a dozen times.”

Biden has stressed his ties to organized labor. But several major unions have formally called for a ceasefire in Gaza, including the United Auto Workers, the American Postal Workers Union, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) that represents almost 2 million workers. Organizers among members of the nation’s largest union, the National Education Association, are now pushing for the NEA to also take a formal position urging a ceasefire.

Such direct challenges to Biden’s support for continuation of the bloodshed in Gaza are yet more indicators of how badly he is out of touch with voters he needs.

Now, among progressives, thoughtful dialogue on what to do about Biden is essential. Valuable ideas include focusing on local and state races as well as giving priority to support for the most progressive members of Congress as they undergo big-money assaults from AIPAC and its reactionary allies.

In any event, candor will be necessary about Joe Biden’s betrayals of key 2020 campaign promises and his complicity with ongoing mass murder by Israel in Gaza. And candor will also be crucial about the very real threat of fascism from Trump forces intent on seizing full control of the U.S. government —with foreseeably catastrophic impacts on civil liberties, reproductive rights, racial justice, climate, the environment, voting rights, what remains of democracy, and so much more. Make no mistake about it: Trump and his top collaborators would like to bring fascism to the United States.

(Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His most recent book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, was published in June 2023 by The New Press.)

DARK DAYS

Editor: 

I am taking a break from watching the news. Too much tragedy and fear. My heart aches to see the suffering, death and destruction in Gaza against innocent people. I have called local representatives and even written a letter pleading with President Joe Biden to stop supplying arms to Israel. Defeating Hamas is an unachievable goal. For every fighter killed, there are two ready to take his place.

We are under serious threat of a much wider war.

At home we have a divided, nonworking Congress, so nothing gets done. The front-runner for the GOP nomination is an insurrectionist and under multiple criminal indictments. He is supported and enabled by the Republican Party. They have decided to keep their blinders on to gain power. If Donald Trump is elected again, they will reap what they sow, destruction of democracy and anarchy in the country they claim to love.

Joan McAuliffe

Santa Rosa

BLAZE STARR (born Fannie Belle Fleming on April 10, 1932 in Wayne County, West Virginia) was an American stripper and burlesque comedienne. The second eldest of 11 siblings, Blaze grew up near Wilsondale, West Virginia, before leaving home at age 14. She moved to DC, where a Red Synder, a promoter, discovered her. Red convinced Blaze to start stripping when she was just 15. She relocated to Baltimore in 1950 to perform at the Two O’Clock Club. She gained national renown due to a profile in the February 1954 issue of Esquire magazine. Baltimore remained her home base as she travelled to perform at clubs across the country. Blaze often performed on stage with dangerous cats and theatrical flourishes that made her stand out. Her trademark routine was The Exploding Couch. Her performances often resulted in her arrest, due to lewdness. She was featured in the 1956 movie, Buxom Beautease, but she left her mark on pop culture with the 1989 movie, Blaze. Adapted from her memoir, Blaze was portrayed by Lolita Davidovich and Paul Newman was cast as Louisiana governor, Earl Long. Blaze semi-retired in 1975 to become a full-time gemologist. She passed away in her home on June 15, 2015.

IS MICHAEL GAYLORD JAMES OF ‘RISING UP ANGRY’ STILL ANGRY? 

A Profile of Chicago’s Legendary Organizer 

By Jonah Raskin

The Jazz Age novelist, F. Scott Fitzgerald, once said famously that “There are no second acts in American lives.” Scott changed his mind, at least for New York City. In the midst of the Depression, when it looked bleak economically, he wrote, “There was certainly to be a second act to New York’s boom days.” One might borrow Fitzgerald’s quote and ask, “Do American radicals have second and even third acts?” Of course, they do, though many of those acts have not made it into the historical record, and too many radicals, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, for example, died before they could round out their lives. 

Chicago’s Michael Gaylord James has had more acts than many if not most of his contemporaries as an activist, a photographer, an entrepreneur, a radio host, a book publisher and more. But he has often been ignored by biographers who have written about American lefties. 

James has been labeled a midwesterner and early 1960s activist. But he has gone beyond the 1960s and the Midwest, especially in his new book, Crossing Borders. Published in 2023, Crossing Borders contains dozens of photos James took in Mexico, Nicaragua, and Cuba from 1960 to 2007. More of an anti-imperialist now than ever before, he curiously has refrained from using that word to describe himself. 

“My photography is framed by the human condition,” James wrote. Of the photos in Crossing Borders, he added, “These photos…record the universality of the people’s happiness and sadness, hardship and struggle, determination and conviction.” Indeed, they depict poor people of color who work with their hands and who are often smiling and not just for the camera. James also captured on film President John F. Kennedy when he toured Mexico City in a Mercedes, shortly before he was assassinated, to promote the Alliance for Progress, yet another scheme to keep Mexico underdeveloped. 

James didn’t capture the flesh and blood Che, but he snapped an image of Che’s face on a large banner at the Baseball Arena in Havana in 1961. Perhaps he and Che, who said that “The true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love,” would have cruised the Americas on their motorcycles.

One of the founders of Rising up Angry, the organization which rocked white working class youth in Chicago in the late 1960s and early 1970s, James is poised for yet another round as a rebel with a cause. “Rising Up Angry” was the name of the organization’s newspaper as well as the organization. “I didn’t read a lot of Lenin,” James remembers. “But I read enough Lenin to know that a revolutionary organization had to have a paper to get out the word, bring people together and identify the enemy.” 

Founded in July 1969, the newspaper— which honored Ho Chi Minh and Malcolm X, the prisoner rebellion at Attica, the United Farm Workers and the Native American protest at Alcatraz—will celebrate the 55^th anniversary of its birth in July 2024. 

"Some history is remembered; some is not," James muses. He knows that bittersweet story from his own experience. He also knows that many veterans of the Sixties don’t have clear memories of Rising Up Angry, perhaps because the organization was based in Chicago— “fly over country”— not New York or California. 

For nearly all of his adult life, James has been in the business of bringing people together. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the U.S. New Left was often fragmented and in splinter groups and sects—whether RYM I, RYM II, Progressive Labor, the Revolutionary Communist Party, The Revolutionary Union, Weatherman and more— James preached the gospel of unity; “everybody get together,” in the words of the Youngbloods. Confrontation wasn’t his priority. 

Along with Katy Hogan, his long time partner, he operated the ”late great” (as he calls it) Heartland Café. Now, he and Hogan are at work on a book called, The Cafe: Hot Grits & Politics. “We had a good run,” James says. “We had a healthy mix of food, politics and music.” 

Once a week for many years, James hosted a radio /TV and internet show, “Live from the Heartland,” that united the listening audience. Before, during and after the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago—and the “police riot,” as the bloody clashes in the streets was called— James crossed urban boundaries that cops, codes and customs aimed to enforce and that kept whites from Blacks and browns and Blacks and browns from whites. “Workers of the world unite” was a faint echo in Chicago’s white working class neighborhoods.

“Sometimes we've been confused,” James wrote in his first photo book which is now out-of-print. He added. ”Made to be confused.” False consciousness and confusion about which side they were on, played havoc in working class communities he knew in Chicago and elsewhere. 

James and his Rising up Angry brothers and sisters tell it like it is in their book, Rising Up Angry—Our Fight for a Better World which was launched in November 2023. Diane Fager, known as “Stormy,” emphasizes “dialectical thinking.” Peter Kuttner, who made the movie, Trick Bag: The Story of Rising Up Angry, insists on confronting people opposed to equality. 

Long time labor organizer and union member, Bob Lawson sees greater disparity now between haves and have-nots than in the 1960s. He adds that the American military is largely unchecked, environmental devastation worse today than yesterday and unions on the ropes. “The worst thing that has happened in American history is the virtual loss ofunions,” Lawson says. James tends to be more optimistic than Lawson and points to recent victories by strikers and unions. He echoes the cry of the legendary organizer, Joe Hill: “Don’t Mourn, Organize,” which has never gone out of fashion. 

Born in 1942 and raised in a Connecticut town he calls “bourgeois,” James attended grad school at Berkeley, read Lewis Coser, studied conflict theory and thought he might teach sociology and emphasize unity and togetherness. But he had a James Dean-like spirit of rebellion that kept him away from academia for years. In Chicago, after his stint in Berkeley, he worked with JOIN to build an interracial movement of the poor in a neighborhood known as “hillbilly Harlem,”and where many of the residents had fled from Appalachia, and brought Confederate flags with them. 

Drawn to Black music and the working man’s Jesus who stood with the poor and against the rich—James smoked weed, wore a black leather jacket and bridged the gap between hippies and “greasers,” as Chicago’s white working class kids were often called. Perhaps because they greased their hair, and/ or because they worked as “grease monkeys” in garages. Like them, James grew up with a passion for hot rods, racing and sports and without a belief in white supremacy. In college, he played football. For a time he wanted to be a priest.

In the late 1960s, James joined Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and recruited Bernardine Dohrn, who was then his girlfriend and who would go on to lead Weatherman and the Weather Underground. She accomplished a lot as a professor at Northwestern University School of Law, though like James she has not been recognized for the roles she has played on the left. Dohrn hasn’t recycled her political past. 

When Weathermen and women went underground, the clandestine and the subterranean didn’t appeal to James. “We’re not underground,” he wrote in his first book, though he grasped the necessity for the underground abortion network, the Janes Collective. 

In the 1960s and 1970s, members of Rising Up Angry cruised the gritty streets of Chicago and talked with greasers and hippies. “Pigs hassling you?” was often the question that would break the ice and lead to in-depth conversations, though James was not and still isn’t automatically anti-cop. “It was good to know some cops,” he says. “We need a police force.” (He was not big on the recent defund the police campaign.) James and others in Rising Up Angry took photos of greasers and published them in the newspaper on a page called “Stone Grease Grapevine.” The greasers loved seeing their beautiful smiling faces in print. 

“There were no role models for radical whites organizing in white working class neighborhoods,” James says, though in the 1960s, he knew about Tom Watson, the Southern populist who initially organized poor Blacks and poor whites to unite and fight. Then, Watson changed his tune and espoused white supremacy. When he was a spokesman for Rising Up Angry, James also knew about Joe Hill and the Industrial Workers of the World. Still, he and his comrades often had to make it up as they went along. 

(The name of the organization comes from a song in the 1968 movie, Wild in the Streets, that exploited the narrative of youth in rebellion.) 

Inspired by the Black Panther Party, Rising Up Angry moved in the early 1970s, away from militancy and from an emphasis on anger and toughness to compassionate programs that served and nurtured working people. The organization boasted a health clinic and a legal program. It helped vets returning from Vietnam, operated a bookstore, hosted dances (until Mayor Daley canceled them), staged outdoor concerts and offered a people’s sports program, 

The organization was in it for the long haul, not a single season or a summer vacation, but in 1975, when the Sixties ended its long run, Rising Up Angry folded. James is still in it for the long haul, still hopeful and yet also apprehensive. “I can’t believe that Trump might win the 2024 election,” he says. “I’m concerned that we’ll lose many of our gains, including the right to an abortion and gay marriage.”

He adds, “My hope is that one day the U.S. will be recognized in the world community as a nation that worked for the good of the Earth, and that white people will be recognized as a group that worked for the good of all the people.” For James that’s not magical thinking.

Historian Paul Buhle, who has written eloquently about that other James, (C.LR.) thinks that Michael James “deserves the biography that will never be written.” Of course, Michael is still writing his own story; someday someone might tell his tale, though he’s not holding his breath and waiting for that day. Perhaps that book will talk about both race and class which have played havoc with American politics and politicians. Too often Americans have tackled race and not class, or class and not race. Hopefully, a book about James will show how he aimed to transcend contradictions. 

Is Michael James still angry? Yes and no. Not as angry as he once was, but still with some of the anger that once fueled him. He’s proud of the accomplishments of Rising up Angry, and eager for the organization and its newspaper to be recognized by historians and veterans of the Sixties, as well as organizers and activists today. He’d be pleased if generations younger than his appreciated the role that he and his comrades played at a time when whites were often divided from Blacks and Blacks divided from whites, and when Rising up Angry crossed racial borders and built bridges when some of his contemporaries said they couldn’t be built.